When Do Three Subs Equal A Flattop?

May 13, 2004|By PETER DUJARDIN, pdujardin@dailypress.com | 247-4749

NEWPORT NEWS — The Navy will likely give the yard boat-repair jobs to help make up for a delayed carrier project.

Northrop Grumman Newport News expects to get work on three Navy submarines to help offset a delay in an aircraft carrier's refueling and overhaul, shipyard President Tom Schievelbein said Wednesday at a company investor conference in New York.

The yard will perform maintenance on three nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class subs -- the USS Hyman G. Rickover, the Oklahoma City and the Minneapolis-St.Paul -- beginning this fall and extending into 2005.

The sub-repair contracts, along with previously announced maintenance on the carrier George Washington, puts the yard in a stronger position to avoid layoffs caused by a one-year delay in starting the carrier Carl Vinson's midlife refueling and overhaul.

But the yard didn't rule out the possibility that layoffs still could take place.

"It is our hope and objective that the submarine work, combined with the work on the carrier George Washington, will mitigate any potential layoffs" from the Vinson delay, shipyard spokeswoman Jennifer Dellapenta said.

"However, because we don't know yet the full scope of these jobs, it is unclear whether we will achieve this objective."

The exact nature of the sub-repair work, she said, is being negotiated.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the Navy moved the maintenance work -- traditionally done at Navy yards -- from Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.

Until last fall, the Navy had planned to start the Vinson refueling and overhaul -- a huge job that happens only once in a carrier's 50-year lifespan -- in November.

That project -- which will employ 2,500 -- includes changing nuclear fuel; installing thousands of new valves, pumps and engines; revamping electrical systems; and other improvements.

It is expected to cost $3.2 billion, a figure that includes shipyard and Navy planning, parts from the Navy and shipyard waterfront work.

But late last year, the Navy determined the Vinson had enough fuel left to continue for another year, and the ship was deemed necessary for operations around the world.

So instead of starting in November, the Vinson work will start in November 2005.

When the delay was announced, the Navy said it would move a smaller upgrade on the George Washington to help offset the Vinson refueling.